No one moved or spoke until the splash and clatter of his going, and his entourage after him, were well away. And even then the response among them all seemed no more than a long in-drawn breath and a slow release of tension. Heads turned to one another, and Frevisse saw smiles, but no one spoke. There were a few chuckles but no more as they all drifted out of the gateway, some of them nodding to Master Naylor as they passed him. He nodded back, and did not speak either; and when they were gone, he stayed where he was, waiting for Frevisse to come to him.
She did, because there in the open courtyard they could most easily talk without chance of being overheard so long as they kept their voices low. "Master Naylor," she said as she approached him.
He inclined his head to her. "Dame Frevisse."
"I take it from what I heard that Margery Wilkins escaped in the night?"
"It seems her guards and the friends who came to keep her company slept. When they awoke this dawn, she was gone."
"And cannot be found?"
"We've searched the village twice this morning, and Master Montfort's men have hunted the near countryside."
"They think she used her witch-powers to escape?"
"So it would seem. What other explanation is there?"
"I can think of several," Frevisse said dryly.
Master Naylor's expression did not change. "Just as you and Dame Claire could think of some other reason for Jack Wilkins' death besides his wife's words striking him down."
"And the fine to the priory for your carelessness in losing your witch?"
"It was villeins who had the watch of her and lost her. I mean to make an amercement on the village to help meet the fine our crowner will surely bring against the priory."
"Won't there be protest over that?"
"Villeins always protest over paying anything. But in this I think there'll be less arguing than in most. She's their witch. Let them pay for her. Dear-bought is held more dear."
"They still truly believe she killed her husband?" Frevisse asked. "Despite what we told them last night, they still believe she's a witch with that much power?"
"What else can they believe?" the steward asked quietly in return. "They saw her do it."
"What do you believe?" Frevisse asked, unable to tell from his neutral expression and voice.
Instead of an answer to that, Master Naylor said, "I think a straw-filled loft is not an uncomfortable place to be for a week and more this time of year. And that by the time summer comes there'll be a new herb-wife in the village, maybe even with the same first name but someone's widowed sister from somewhere else, freeborn like Margery was and no questions asked."
"And after all, witchcraft in itself is no crime or sin," Frevisse said. "The wrong lies in the use it's put to."
"And all the village knows Margery has ever used her skills for good, except this one time, if you judge what she did was ill. All her neighbors judge it wasn't," Master Naylor said solemnly.
"They mean to keep her even if it costs them?" Frevisse asked.
"They know she's a good woman. And now that they're certain she has power, she's not someone they want to lose."
"Or to cross," Frevisse said.
Master Naylor came as near to a smile as he ever came, but only said, "There'll likely be no trouble with anyone beating her ever again."
THE END
Margaret Frazer
Margaret Frazer is the award-winning author of more than twenty historical murder mysteries and novels. She makes her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, surrounded by her books, but she lives her life in the 1400s. In writing her Edgar-nominated Sister Frevisse (The Novice's Tale) and Player Joliffe (A Play of Isaac) novels she delves far inside medieval perceptions, seeking to look at medieval England more from its point of view than ours. "Because the pleasure of going thoroughly into otherwhen as well as otherwhere is one of the great pleasures in reading."
She can be visited online at http://www.margaretfrazer.com.
Sister Frevisse Mysteries
Beginning in the year of Our Lord's grace 1431, the Sister Frevisse mysteries are an epic journey of murder and mayhem in 15th century England.
The Novice's Tale
The Servant's Tale (Edgar-Award Nominee)
The Outlaw's Tale
The Bishop's Tale (Minnesota Book Award Nominee)
The Boy's Tale
The Murderer's Tale
The Prioress' Tale (Edgar-Award Nominee)
The Maiden's Tale
The Reeve's Tale (Minnesota Book Award Nominee)
The Squire's Tale
The Clerk's Tale
The Bastard's Tale
The Hunter's Tale
The Widow's Tale
The Sempster's Tale
The Traitor's Tale
The Apostate's Tale
Player Joliffe Mysteries
In the pages of Margaret Frazer's national bestselling Dame Frevisse Mysteries the player Joliffe has assumed many roles on the stage to the delight of those he entertains. Now, in the company of a troupe of traveling performers, he finds himself double cast in the roles of sleuth and spy...
A Play of Isaac
A Play of Dux Moraud
A Play of Knaves
A Play of Lords
A Play of Treachery
A Play of Piety
Margaret Frazer Tales
Neither Pity, Love, Nor Fear (Herodotus Award Winner)
Strange Gods, Strange Men
The Simple Logic of It (A Bishop Pecock Tale)
The Witch's Tale (Sister Frevisse Mystery)
The Midwife's Tale (Sister Frevisse Mystery)
Volo te Habere...
This World's Eternity
Shakespeare's Mousetrap
The Death of Kings
The Stone-Worker’s Tale (Sister Frevisse Mystery)
Winter Heart (Sister Frevisse Mystery)
Cover Art: Henry Wallis - Death of Chatterton, 1856.
Cover Design: Justin Alexander
The Witch's Tale Page 3